SWIFT Report

July 2019

Visibility of incoming
payments – Proof of Value
(PoV)
Can visibility on all incoming
cross-border payments help
corporates achieve greater
efficiency?
In this report:
Solution investigated
Can end-to-end visibility
Approach
Results of the PoV
and transparency on all
Next steps
Benefits at a glance
incoming cross-border
payments help corporates
on the seller side?

We presented this question to

six gpi member banks and
corporate customers1 as we
launched the visibility of
incoming payments PoV
explored with AccessPay.

1
Participating banks: BNP Paribas, Natixis, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Mashreq Bank, Societe Generale, UBS, Yapi Kredi
Participating corporate customers: ITV and Eversheds Sutherland

2
Solution investigated Building on the unique capabilities of SWIFT gpi, a
visibility of incoming payments initiative would
leverage the existing gpi Tracker to help
corporates with the management of working
capital as well as payment reconciliation
operations.

With SWIFT gpi, member banks benefit from visibility over As a result, banks would have the capacity to offer
all incoming payments before reception of the payment incoming payment notification, tracking and search
message. However, the information presented does not services to their corporate customers.
today include the details on the buyer, the seller and any
remittance details. Would SWIFT made this information
available to gpi banks, the solution examined would utilise
the transaction information that the buyer bank puts in the
SWIFT network to enable the beneficiary bank to present
these transaction details to the corporate beneficiary, ahead
of payment delivery.

gpi Tracker

Incoming!

Incoming
Payments

3
Approach Throughout the PoV, participating banks and
corporates were invited to validate the proposed
solution in the context of their institution, and
provide input on possible use cases and
perceived value.

01
The PoV was rolled out in two phases:
The first stage gathered six gpi member banks and
SWIFT to explore the initial value points, identify high level
requirements to feed the tracking service and investigate
standards for forecast reporting.

02
After defining the foundational elements, phase 1
participants entered a second phase of the PoV aiming
to discuss and validate the solution overview and the
value of a visibility of incoming payments service with
corporates. In phase 2 we worked with a technology
vendor – AccessPay – who provides a bank dashboard
app for corporates – BankSense – to illustrate what the
end customer sees in the testing scenario.

4
Results of the PoV The consultations conducted with the six gpi
member banks and the corporates during the
PoV demonstrated that the industry sees value in
receiving advance information of incoming
payments.

We entered the PoV asking whether visibility over incoming The PoV also supported the assumption that such a service
payments would help corporates with the management of would bring significant benefits to banks:
their working capital by improving their receivables
forecasting. Following the conversations participants
At customer service level, visibility of incoming payments
engaged in during the PoV, we confirmed that while
would lead to more effective case resolution: bank
visibility of incoming payments would help to
customers would be able to track in real-time the status
improve accuracy for intraday credit line needs, it
of their incoming payments in a self-service environment
would provide further benefits in supporting credit
and, therefore, would not need to contact the bank for
control with reconciliation operations.
this information.
Today corporates spend a significant number of hours
chasing late payments and proof that payments have been
initiated. Participants in the PoV indicated that benefiting
from visibility over all incoming payments would help them For large corporates, this new layer of information would
reduce the time spent tracking payments and result in help banks develop standardised incoming payment
greater operational efficiency. tracking solutions that can be integrated in their
customers’ ERP systems.

The new service would also benefit banks more directly by

enabling their treasuries to better forecast daily FX
needs and, therefore, reduce the need to ask
corporates for this information.

5
Key findings While the PoV concluded that a visibility of
incoming payment service would facilitate the
management of working capital for corporates, it
also highlighted additional use cases and
prerequisites.

Liquidity forecasting Exception management Legal and compliance Implementation and customer
service

In line with the primary assumption The degree of transparency While the gain of transparency over From an implementation point of
that drove the PoV, liquidity provided throughout the transit of incoming payments would benefit view, we would need to further
forecasting would complement the the payment means that banks banks and corporates on various explore ways to satisfy regulation
value that gpi brings to cross- would be able to inform their levels, the service could impact for countries where the name
border payments. This is perceived customers at all-times about the compliance in that some banks of the customer is not sufficient
by participants as particularly status of their incoming flows may need to screen these flows. and account name disclosure is
relevant on slow corridors or for and, therefore, reduce enquiry The process, however, could mandatory, or for payments made
specific currencies and to enhance resolution times. Further value is be similar to that applied when to Payment Factory accounts for
the liquidity management of FI foreseen in enabling corporates to sending MT 199 messages. receivables.
customers. use the service, allowing them to
track specific transactions directly, From a legal perspective, care
even when they do not have the would need to be applied in
UETR. marketing the Visibility on Incoming
Payments as the information
Whilst the exception management required to offer real end-to-end
and the possibilities it opens is tracking is provided on a best-
considered a key priority, enabling effort basis and, therefore, should
end users to directly search and be considered as advice rather
track the payments could be than a commitment.
harder to integrate. To deploy the
feature on the end user systems
would require the integration of
additional information flows in
their ERPs. Nevertheless, similar
integrations are already being
explored, as is the case with gpi
for corporates.

6
Next steps Banks and corporates alike recognise the
importance of transparency across the payment
chain. In addition to benefitting liquidity
forecasting activities, visibility of incoming
payments will provide a real value add to
exception management capabilities and therefore
this should remain a key focus when building the
new service.

The visibility of incoming payments solution

received strong support from the banks and
corporates involved in the PoV and it is one of the
top 2019 priorities for the gpi for corporates (g4C)
group. Looking at the next steps, SWIFT now
intends to gather a representative group of gpi
member banks and corporates to engage in a
pilot where the gpi infrastructure will provide the
rails for the core functionality framework and APIs.

Improve credit control Reduces the time spent by

Benefits at a efficiency corporates to reconcile proof of
glance payments

Greater transparency also means

that less time would be spent
chasing late payments

Enhance liquidity forecasting Provides a more accurate view of

incoming payments

Enables treasury operations to fine

tune their working capital needs

Contact [email protected] to find out

more about the initiative.
www.swift.com/gpi

7
 About SWIFT

SWIFT is a global member owned cooperative and the

world’s leading provider of secure financial messaging
services.

We provide our community with a platform for

messaging and standards for communicating, and
we offer products and services to facilitate access
and integration, identification, analysis and regulatory
compliance.

Our messaging platform, products and services

connect more than 11,000 banking and securities
organisations, market infrastructures and corporate
customers in more than 200 countries and territories.
While SWIFT does not hold funds or manage
accounts on behalf of customers, we enable our
global community of users to communicate securely,
exchanging standardised financial messages in a
reliable way, thereby supporting global and local
financial flows, as well as trade and commerce all
around the world.

As their trusted provider, we relentlessly pursue

operational excellence; we support our community
in addressing cyber threats; and we continually seek
ways to lower costs, reduce risks and eliminate
operational inefficiencies. Our products and services
support our community’s access and integration,
business intelligence, reference data and financial
crime compliance needs. SWIFT also brings the
financial community together – at global, regional
and local levels – to shape market practice, define
standards and debate issues of mutual interest or
concern.

Headquartered in Belgium, SWIFT’s international

governance and oversight reinforces the neutral,
global character of its cooperative structure. SWIFT’s
international office network ensures an active
presence in all the major global financial centres.

For more information about SWIFT,

© SWIFT visit www.swift.com.
July 2019